Tag Archives: A Most Wanted Man

Cinematically 2014 was a long, bizarre year that seemed like it would never end, much like many of the runtime-be-damned films we watched. It’s hard to pinpoint a defining theme as filmmakers were all over the map and seemed to be throwing everything and the kitchen sink at viewers, though time travel (in fantastic terms in Interstellar and The Edge of Tomorrow while in more realistic terms in Boyhood) and biopics (especially at the end of the year) seemed to make the most compelling cases.

Strangely I found myself disconnected from many of the overly praised but still very high quality “independent” films (Boyhood, Birdman and Selma) while I found enormous entertainment value in the smartly crafted mainstream masterpieces (Interstellar and Gone Girl).

Early in the year we were treated to some of the strangest and most unnerving independent fare with the cold Canadian entry Enemy and the ever-odd Under the Skin, both slow-burn psychological thrillers that could make David Lynch squirm and swoon. At the end of the year, when it came to the biopics, The Imitation Game showed us how it should be done even when going by-the-numbers, while The Theory of Everything showed us how wrong by-the-numbers can go.

When it came to up-and-coming directors, Jeremy Saulnier (with Blue Ruin) and Jennifer Kent (with The Babadook) left us on the edge of our seats begging for more, while Ava DuVernay basked in the glory of being the first to attempt a MLK biopic with the noble Selma.

On the veteran auteur front, David Fincher delivered a dark comedy for the ages with Gone Girl while Christopher Nolan aimed for the stars with the year’s most ambitious and memorable effort, Interstellar. Meanwhile in a tale of two Andersons, Wes Anderson delivered his best yet with The Grand Budapest Hotel while Paul Thomas Anderson delivered his least yet with Inherent Vice…which was still a pleasing effort and a notch about Wes’ best. Continue reading →

Here’s one of the many reasons why the brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman will be so sorely missed: his mere presence prompted other actors/actresses to up their game. Case in point here in A Most Wanted Man: the couldn’t be lovelier but normally vapid Rachel McAdams, shaky German accent and all, manages to actually make you feel for her troubled lawyer accused of being a social worker for terrorists. What’s even more amazing is that in an adaptation of John Le Carre novel you actually feel anything for anyone! With the emotional powder keg of The Constant Gardner being the exception to the rule, Le Carre’s spy procedurals are normally colder than an interrogation room metal tabletop. Yet Anton Corbijn wisely allows his A-list cast to tap into the quiet, bubbling under the surface, heartbreak of this post 9/11 spy-eat-spy world.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is Gunther Backmann, a world-weary German intelligence station chief in Hamburg who was burned by the CIA at his last post in Beirut where assets were betrayed and lives lost. He’s quietly been toiling away, utilizing McAdam’s liberal lawyer to reel in his minnow, a Chechen Muslim who entered Germany under cloak and dagger, that he hopes to dangle in front his barracuda, a renowned Islamic political activist and spiritual leader thought to be secretly funding a shipping company with terrorist ties. He tries to keep the CIA, represented by a professionally flirtatious Robin Wright, at bay, while aided by his right-hand woman played with subtle skill by the fantastic Nina Hoss. Willem Dafoe, meanwhile, plays a banker used as a pawn to channel the alleged funds that were left behind in secret by the Chechen’s recently deceased Russian crime lord father. Continue reading →

The Spin at the Movies

Trainwreck It's Apatow. It's Schumer. It's an all-star revue of sports stars and comedians! It's a typical romantic comedy - with edge! Like it or don't. You're tolerance level will be directly proportional to your fondness for Amy.

Amy: Asif Kapadia's brilliant documentary of Amy Winehouse's rise and fall is a sympathetic portrait of a woman of immense talent whose death was so tragic not because she couldn't help herself, but because she could've helped herself.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: One of the better teen-angst dramedies to come down the pike in awhile. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll love the homages to your favorite movies.

Far From the Madding Crowd: The amazing cinematography of the Dorset countryside will make you drunk in Thomas Vinterberg's lush and sturdy adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic tale. Carey Mulligan and Matthias Schoenaerts are perfect in the lead roles. Follows the formula of the feminist period romance but splendidly done.

The Spin’s Netflix Pick of the Month

Force Majeure: The film that should've won Best Foreign Language film at the Oscars is a Swedish domestic drama about one family's unraveling while on a skiing vacation in the French Alps. Waxing in Carver-esque fashion on family, responsibility, trust and what it means to be a man in modern times, the film expertly shows how one false move can lead to an avalanche of raw emotions previously unexplored. A great little film that should spark meaty conversation amongst those who watch it making it an intellectual date movie of sorts.